


Third Choice

by Elanorin



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 13:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3070424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elanorin/pseuds/Elanorin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garrus is finding that watching Shepard from afar is no longer enough. Set during ME3, assuming past romance with Kaidan Alenko during ME1 and Thane Krios during ME2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Third Choice

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all constructive feedback is always much appreciated, it's why I'm here. 
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> ~Elanorin

"So..." Tali Zorah shifted her weight from one foot to the other a little uncomfortably. 

She could tell the Turian didn’t want her to leave and she knew him well enough by now to know that he also didn’t want to tell her why. Garrus was complicated. Though she wasn’t sure he had been when she first met him. Perhaps it was just her getting to know him better that had revealed it, or this never ending war against the Reapers was changing him. Then again, perhaps it was just down to being close to Shepard, the most complicated person Tali had ever known.

Yeah, Shepard. That’s what it all came back to with Garrus and had done for a long time now. That’s what he wanted to say. He wanted to lift it off his chest and tell someone about Shepard. Only, he didn’t want to have to say the words. Garrus had always been uncomfortable with words. He always seemed to see and feel deeper than any words could really convey and he often seemed disappointed and frustrated with himself for being unable to properly convey his opinions. "...you’re back in the cargo hold again." She was at a loss at what to fill the silence with and eyed over the consoles next to the one Garrus was working at, more out of lack of options than genuine interest.

He paused briefly and glanced a sideways glance at what she was doing before continuing his own work. "Yeah" was his monosyllabic response.

"Less private" Tali offered and, when the Turian gave her a thoughtful look, she hastily added "but more spacious. It, uh, has space."

"Is there something you want to tell me, Tali?" Garrus asked softly, his attention back on his console as he tapped away. His voice was warm and welcoming but also slightly tense, he probably had a hunch she wasn’t sticking around for her own sake. Deceptively perceptive.

"Well..." the cargo hold suddenly seemed very large and quiet.

"Here." Garrus said softly and gestured for her to come with him through to the engine room. "I figure you’d be more comfortable here" he said gesturing at the thrumming eezo core. "Also, the loud ambient here makes it the perfect place for not being eavesdropped on."

Tali laughed a brief laugh.

"Which is why there’s such traffic here, I imagine" Garrus continued, still looking at the core thoughtfully. "You’d think the thing was about to blow sometimes for all the coming and going through those doors" he huffed. "Everyone deals with stress differently."

"Not everyone has the luxury of a Captain’s cabin." Tali remarked, nudging the topic towards Shepard.

Garrus clearly noticed, stiffening for a moment. "Yeah."

A silence passed, Tali wondered if it would be enough or if she’d have to bait the Turian even more to get what he wanted to say off his chest. The silence dragged on for what felt like an age.

"Have you ever been up there, Garrus?" Tali continued, nudging the subject somewhat more forcibly. She hoped he got the true meaning of her words rather than just their face value.

"No" he eventually said.

Tali’s shoulders visibly relaxed. She knew he had been up there to drop off reports on several occasions. His answer meant the Turian was finally opening up. "Why not?"

Garrus was staring at some nondescript point somewhere over where the far wall met the floor. "I have lost count at the number of reasons I have given myself." Garrus replied. "But most of all, it was always a bad time and every damn day that passed it just seemed to get worse. Now I... I don’t know, I guess I don’t want to be third choice. Nor do I particularly fancy getting in the middle of whatever is about to go down between her and Alenko."

"Third choice? Why would you be-" Tali started but he cut her off before she could finish,

"To her it was always all about Alenko, from before I even met her. When that went to hell… I tried to give her some space but before I knew it Krios came on the scene and… hell I guess it was for the best, he seemed to be what she needed. Now the Drell is barely in the ground and Alenko is back at her side on every damn mission. Even I can see where that is going."

"So are you." Tali said simply. "You have been at her side on every mission, even back when we were hunting Saren, when we were hunting the Collectors, and now. You’re the only constant, Garrus. I’d be more concerned about being second or third choice if I were Kaidan or Thane than if I were you."

"Mission strategy isn’t the same as private preference." Garrus dismissed with a wave.

"You seem to think so. You just implied Kaidan’s frequent presence on missions meant him potentially reigniting whatever he had with Shepard. Neither of us really know what that was or the parameters of it."

"It was pretty blatantly obvious he was in love with Shepard, I’m amazed he didn’t propose after we defeated Saren" Garrus sneered.

"How do you know he didn’t propose?"

That made Garrus pause and look up in search for eye contact only to quickly realise none was to be had with the Quarian. 

"Exactly" Tali said pointing a finger at him. "Shepard plays her cards close to the chest, she always has. We’ve both seen what happens to anyone trying to tell her what she can or can’t do, who she is or who she isn't. Don’t make the same mistake, Garrus. You should know better" Tali reproached.

Garrus bristled and took a step back as the verbal blow landed a significant hit. 

"The fact that she hasn’t approached you doesn’t mean anything. You haven’t approached her either despite how you feel" Tali said sharply and crossed her arms. "Who says you’re third choice? Shepard? No. You have no idea of what has really happened between her and Kaidan, or Thane. The way she felt about them then or how she feels about them now. They were choices she made without you in the picture because you’ve made damned sure to stay out."

"Tali..." Garrus flinched as another blow hit.

"No. If you don’t want to be with her - for whatever reason - fine. Don’t be. Move on. But if you do - then let her know and let _her_ decide if she wants to be with you or not. Don’t go making decisions on her behalf that she knows nothing about. You do that to Shepard and she finds out..." Tali paused and let his own imagination fill in the rest. "Most of all Garrus, you must move on, in whatever direction. No more calibrating."

Garrus shifted his weight and laughed a weak uncomfortable laugh. "Spirits, Tali, you're blunt."

"The only way to get through to creatures with highly evolved defensive systems up to their teeth in high-tech armour." She cocked her head to one side, he didn’t have to see her eyes to know they were giving him a significant look. "Male ones especially."

Garrus let out a loud breath, it sounded frustrated and slightly shaky and he grabbed the engine core railing with both hands. Tali hadn't so much as raised her voice but he felt physically bruised.

He looked terrified, Tali thought. Funny, in the middle of a war they had next to no hope of winning and after countless battles against Collectors, Cerberus, Saren, Reapers, more enemies than she cared to count, she had never seen him this unsettled. "Garrus. You’re her main gun, her second in command. You know that no matter how she may feel or not feel about you, that job is yours however long you want it. _You trust her_."

That seemed to strike a nerve with the Turian who suddenly stood up and pinned an ice-blue stare at her. "I do."

Before Tali could say anything further he was gone and she was left alone with the humming eezo core. "Good luck."


End file.
